Elastic-fluid turbine.



PATENTED DEC. 31, 1907.

F. SAMUELSON.

ELASIIG FLUID TURBINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28. 1907.

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Witnesses PA i FREDERICK SAMUELS-ONLO'F RUGBY, ENGLAND', ASSGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC .CMPANY, A CORPORATIONy OF NEW YORK.

EnAsTIc-.FLUXD mnnnrnn.

' Patented Dec. 31, 1907.

To'aZZ whom "it may concern; Be it known that l,v FREDERICK SAMUEL- soN, a subject of the Kin of Sweden, residingat Rugbfy, England, .ave invented ceruseful vImprovements in Elastic-Fluid Turbines, of whichthefollowing is a specification.

M invention relates to improvements in tlllblnes'operatedby exhaustiiuid such as steam supplied trompa reciprocating engine or 4other*source of supply. Turbines of this kind as hitherto eonstructed have in some cases been' designed so as to be suitable for efficient working only with exhaust steam and thereforey in cases where no exhaust supply was available and it was necessary to operate the turbine by live steam taken from .a

- boiler, the pressure of the steam had tobereduced so as to render it suitable for operating the'turbine, thereby causing a large loss in efficiency. In other cases it has been proposed tol use an ordinary high -pressure multi-stage turbine andto admit the exhaust Huid to av stage corresponding in pressure to that 'of the exhaust luid. In the latter arrangement the exhaust steam is admitted to the turbine of the multi-stage type'tof one off the low-pressure stages insuch a manner as' to ill the whole of the high-pressure stage and thereby increase the Irotation losses when it is desired t'o operate the turbine whollyl by exhaust steam, owing to the `friction and windage encountered by the idle wheel rotating in the exhaust steam.

The object of my invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the turbines. above dei scribed andto this end 'it consists'in admitting the exhaust steam to a multi-stage turbine through the stationary nozzles or guide vanes of a low or medium pressure stage, the conduit for supplying. steam to these nozzles being entirely shut -ofi' from the stage or sta es of higher pressure, so that when the tur ine is operated entirely by exhaust steam the pressurein the first stage or stages of high ressure is that 'of the exhaust steam after 1t has been expanded in theexhaust admission passage to the pressure of the next lower staIge of the turbine. t

nca v n'- finvention into efec as applied tofrdytluliirid the multi-stage type, the exhaust steamis ,admitted to a certain number of nozzles in" such stage that the Aex-l haust steam has', on its way to the condenser, to pass through a suihcient number of moving wheels to'enable its energy to be 'eilect-` ively extracted. In' this stage one part o the nozzles is thus in communication with the exhaust steam conduit and,l the remaining lnozzles receive their supply, ii any, from high-pressure -steam expanding through the preceding stage or stages which thus areat stage or stages thus running idle the. ressure" oi the medium in which these whee s rotate to i will be equal tothe pressure of the exhaust' Y steam after it has expanded through its first'v stage. AAs this pressure which is communicated to the idle wheels by the nozzles nowv not used by any high pressure steam may be condenser pressure and is'in any case a very. lowone, the losses caused by friction and windage resistance of the idle wheels, which otherwise would be a` very serious objection, 'are here reduced' to a minlmum, thus makingw the turbine eiiicient not onlyl when operated withhigh pressure and exhaust steam at the same time but also when driven by one of these agencies only.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one. of theembodiments of'my invention, Figure 1 represents a sectional side elevation and Fig. 2` is a sectional end elevation onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1. .i

The turbine illustrated is provided with three stages 1, 2 and 3 and the supply of exhaust steam is admitted to the 'stage 2 through the inlet conduit A 4 and passes through stages 2 and 3 in' which its energy is 'efficiently extracted on its way to the condenser through outlet 5. In stage 2 the main stationary sectional nozzle 6 is incommunication with and receives exhaust steam from the conduit 4, the other or secondary sectional nozzle 7 receives its steam-supply, if an from the stagev 15,-.110 mixingsof the su'pp 'es taking place untilthey have'passed through the nozzles'irrto` sta'gef2, the two nozzles 6 and 7. being separated by' barriers `haust steam butv receives live steam-from any convenient'. source through the conduitv the Pressure of the medium in which it is red volving being equal to the' pressure of the exhaust steam after it has passed through stage 2. As this pressure is very low the losses caused by friction and windage of the 1 wheel in sta-ge l, ulrich otherwise would be high and be avery serious objection, are re- :duced to a mlnnmun- A turbme constructled in this manner'is thus very efficient not only when operated by live and exhaust steam combined but also when driven by either of these agencies alone.

' l@ .1i-lll be obvious that although l have Illustrated a turbine having one stage only 4n which the live steam supply is expanded this number may be increased. iiithout departing from my invention, also the number fof stages through which the exhausty steampasses may be increased or decreased from that shown.

l mounted Vnuppey end of the casing is provided with. a

The turbine is provided with'v a casing 10 on thechambered base 11. The

' head 12 having a packingv 13 Smi'oundin(gi jvided to mounted 1n place.

-,the upper diaphragmv 16.

.35.' 'V v exhaust steam the main shaft 14. The casingis provide 4vs-ith an internal shoulder In this diaphragm which is supplied wholly by A from the conduit 4, the said chamber being entirely cut off from the first stage vheel compartment. 'l he chamber supplies the mainstage nozzles or nozzle sections ti of which there arca greater num-4 ber than secondary nozzle T supplied by steam from the chamber 18.- rlhe chamber 18 is formed partially byv the outer casing and partially by the vertical Wall 19 of the upper diaphragm. The first stage wheel is rovided u' ith a bucket structure 20 which 'is Wider than the Wheel Web and the upper Surface of the diaphragm is in Close proie imityto said Web and bucket structure to assist in forming the chamber 18. 'l he ends of the chamber 1S are formed by the vertical barriers 8 which are common to the chambers 17 and 18. The second diaphragm 21 is a chamber 17 alegre/Sts OH a shoulder formed on the inside' fof. the teasing, the

latter being suitably dipermit said diaphragme to be The second diaphragm "cooperating with the wall of the casing and the Web ofthe second wheel forms a chamber', '22 in Which the low pressure steam passing the main stage nozzles 6 steam from the nozzles '7 when the latter are inservice, the pressures of the two streams being 5., course .equalized therein. Each Wheel rotates'in its own/compartment which 15 which supports` .patent statutes,

mixes with the.

ereuii stage nozzles are situated between the internal shoulders and the diaphragms are held in place u holly or largely by the pressure and Weight of said diaphragme. Suitable bolts or screws may be employed to vunite them ith the diapliiagnis to facilitate handling.

T he first stage wheel is provided Vwith a greater number of rows of wheel buckets 23 than are the subsequent stages. By reason of this arrangement the made to perform a geater amount of Work .than any one of the subsequent stages. The

nist stage can be drop in fluid pressure in the admission nozzles in 4this case v ill be greater than in the subsequent nozzles and sufficient to lower the first stage pressure to safe working con ditions. Bet een the rows of Wheel buckets are intermediate buckets 24 which receive fluid from the Wheel buckets and after changing its `direction discharge it atthe proper angle against the wheel bucketsin the adjacent row. Y

In the initial stage the nozzles and intermediate buckets occupy only a ortionof the Wheel circumference. To re uce rotation losses blank rings arelmdthe Wheel from one end ci the ntermediates to the other.

ln accordance with the provisions of the l .have described the princile 'of operation of my invention together with v.the a paratu's which l now consider to re resent t e best embodiment thereof; but l esireto have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative, and that the invention can be carried out by other means.

What i claim as n iv and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the "United Statesfisf- 1. A11 elastic fluid turbine. comprising a plurality of stages Working at dierent preseures, each stage-having iiuid discharging de- 'vices and wheel buckets for extracting energy from the motive fluid, in combination with stage fluid discharging devices Which yare shut cil from receiving fluid from a higher pressure stage, and a conduit which supplies low pressure fluid. to said stage devices.

2. An elastic iiuid turbine comprising a plurality of stages Working at different presi sures, bucket Wheels therefor, admitting and discharging devices for the first stage receiving high pressure iiuid, in combination with two sets of iluid discharging devices for an '4 intermediate stage, one set receiving iiuid exhausting from a Wheel, the second being shut oli from the iirst, 'and a conduit that supplies low pressure fluid to the second set of devices only.

3. An elastic plurality of stages Working at different pressures, rows of Wheel buckets therefor, high fluid turbine comprising a` Cil pressure fluid admitting and discharging devices for the first stage, and an inclosing casing, in combination with a diaphragm between two of the stages containing chambers, one of which receives fluid from. the receding row of buckets, the other/being s ut off from said supply, a conduit for admitting fluid at low ressure to the last mentioned chamber, and) stage fluid discharging devices which receive iuid from both chambers and discharge it against the adjacent row of buckets.

, 4. An elastic fluid turbine comprising a plurality of stages operating lat different pressures, mainstage nozzles which are c ut off from receiving high pressure fluid, a conduit for admitting low pressure fluid thereto, nozzles for a stage of higher pressure receivL ing high pressure Huid, secondary stage nozzles that are cut 0H from the main stage nozzles and receive motive fluid exhausting from a Wheel, Wheel buckets foreXtracting energy from the high 4and low pressure motive fluids, and an exhaust conduit that is lcommon to all of the' nozzles.

5. An .elastic fluid turbine comprising stagesworking at different pressures, each containing a Wheel compartment', fluid discharging devices and bucket Wheels for the stages, in. combination with a conduit for supplying high pressure motive fluid, a chamber which receives motive fluid from a Wheel, a second chamber Which isl'shut ofic from receiving motive fluid from a Wheel, a conduit admitting low pressure fluid to the second chamber only, a third chamber that receives motive fluid from both the high. and loW pressure su ply conduits and equalizes the pressures t ereof, andan exhaust conduit common to all of the Wheel buckets.

6. An elastic fluid turbine comprising stages Working at different ressures, each containing fluid discharging evices, those in the initial stage causing a greater drop in pressure than those in the subsequent stage or stages, and a conduit admitting high pressure fluid to the initial stage, in combination with a set of, stage nozzles which are shut off from receiving motive fluid from preceding stage, a conduit for discharging low pressure fluid-to said set ,of stage nozzles, and a chamber which receives the fluid from both sources` and equalizes the ressures. i

In witness whereof, l iave hereunto set 'my hand this fifteenth day of May, 1907.

FREDRICK SAMU ELSON.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. FULLER, J. A. FOSTER. 

